fbpx VIY wins Big Society Award - London Youth

17 July 2012

The Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) pilot project has won a Big Society Award. We are delighted to see the project, and good youth work, celebrated.

VIY enables young people to gain accredited building and DIY skills by working, under the guidance of local professional tradespeople, to fix and refurbish local youth centres in need of essential repairs.

VIY was chosen for the award due to its work encouraging young people (14-25) to contribute to their communities while learning valuable transferable skills they can apply towards future career opportunities.

Congratulating the VIY partners on the award, Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“This is a fantastic example of a Big Society approach where young people learn building and trade skills while at the same time providing vital repair work and improvements to their local community centres. It is also a great example of businesses of all sizes working together to come up with a solution that has a lasting effect for everyone involved.

“It is great to hear that volunteers from the VIY programme have secured further training opportunities, apprenticeships and jobs as a result of taking part in this. I am also really pleased to see that it is being extended to other regions in the country.”

You can read more about the award here.

Other awards

The project also won three awards at the Corporate Engagement Awards 2012; the Gold award for 'Best Collaborative Approach' and the Gold for Best Community Involvement in a Sponsorship Activity'. It also won the 'Grand Prix' award which is the overall award for the best entry.

In addition the project won the special award for best low budget project at The Hollis Sponsorship Awards 2012.

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